


==>Bro: Protect

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Sadstuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-20
Updated: 2014-08-20
Packaged: 2018-02-13 22:59:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2168433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You'll never let anything happen to your little brother, you'll give anything to keep something like that from happening to him. You'll be the weird shadow of a person to him, and you'll strife with him every damn day if it means that he'll live through the game. You know that there's nothing you can do to keep him out of the game, so you have to know that he's prepared to live through the fucking thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	==>Bro: Protect

Your name is BRO STRIDER and you've got a brother to take care of.

You found the kid on a fucking meteor and if you were a normal human behind you probably would have called someone. But no, you're Dirk Strider and you've played this game well enough to know what's happening. And you hate seeing this, you hate having to do this, but that's how the game works. So you take the kid and the stupid ass horse he and the meteor killed and you name him Dave after your bro, and also because you're pretty sure this is your bro. It's weird.

You treat him like a kid for as long as you can. You coddle him and you're nice and you do what a parent should do.

But when he's old enough to hold a sword you know what you have to do because you aren't about to let your brother step into this stupid ass game without being able to protect himself.  

You're pretty sure that if anyone saw you treating Dave this way you'd end up with Child Protective Services on your doorstep. Maybe he would be safer that way, you don't know. 

You used to be able to treat him nicer. You didn't have to be the vague enigma that's always around even when you aren't actually  _seen_ all the time. You don't like having to strife with the kid all the fucking time, he's a kid, you shouldn't be beating the shit out of him with a fucking sword. You don't like having to do this, but you know that it's necessary. 

If, not even if,  _When_ you die in the game you need there to be a distance. If you're as close as you were when he was a kid, your death will be a distraction that the kid can't ignore, and he'll get himself killed and you cannot let that happen. If you don't strife with him, he's never going to learn how to fight and he'll die even sooner than he would. 

You'll never let anything happen to your little brother, you'll give anything to keep something like that from happening to him. You'll be the weird shadow of a person to him, and you'll strife with him every damn day if it means that he'll live through the game. You know that there's nothing you can do to keep him out of the game, so you have to know that he's prepared to live through the fucking thing. 

The day the game starts you start off by bending the rules a little. Okay, maybe a lot. So the meteor's supposed to make contact, but he and his friend are dicking around and you know that there isn't time. So yeah you cut the shitty thing right the fuck in half to buy the kid some time because he needs it. 

You try and hover around close for as long as you can before you go to look for Jack. You're hoping that maybe you can hold him off, hell, maybe you can kill him yourself and save the kids some trouble. But you aren't that good. 

You can't say that you're all that surprised when your kid brother shows up orange and half bird. Especially not when he explains what happened, why he chose to come back and prototyped himself with the sprite. There really isn't much left to lose at this point, so you ruffle his hair that now has tiny little feathers in it and tell him that you're proud of him. You see his eyes widen behind his shades and you wish that you had had the opportunity to be like that all this time. 

When Jack shows up you're reminded of why you couldn't. 

For a moment, you actually think that maybe you can win. The extra months in the game have done wonders for Dave's fighting abilities and you really are so fucking proud of him. You start to get hopeful that the two of you together will be enough to stop Jack. 

But all it takes is two sword strikes to crush that hope. 

One across Dave's stomach and one through his wing and you know that neither of you have a chance. He hits the floor hard with a strangled squawking noise that tears at your chest a little. You wish that you had more time, but you know what you have to do.

You step in front of his prone body, his sprite tail writhes against the ground as he says with increasing distress, "Bro? Bro?!", but you know what you have to do. It should be fine, he'll be fine. 

Jack runs you through no fucking problem. You hear a long drawn out noise from behind you that's some sort of cross between a wail and a bird screech, and it strikes you as absolutely ridiculous that it's your kid brother who's half fucking bird making that noise and you actually laugh. Maybe it's shock or something, you don't know. But you hear your brother scream your name as you get impaled on a fucking sword and you laugh right in the face of Jack fucking Noir. 

He leaves just like you hoped he would. 

Your dying, you know you are, and you're grateful that you're dying having protected your little brother, because if you had to pick a way there really isn't another way to go that you would pick. You can hear him struggling to get closer to you as your body hits the floor, but with one wing cut off and a sick gash in his stomach in addition to the hole in his chest, you can understand why it's such a struggle.

When he finally manages to drag himself into your line of vision you're shocked to see that he's crying.

You don't understand why, you've been distancing yourself from the kid specifically so this wouldn't happen. This wasn't supposed to happen, he wasn't supposed to like you or cry when you died, he was supposed to stand the fuck up and keep on going. But he sits there and he cries and he begs you to be okay, even though you both know that you're not going to be because you can feel it getting harder to breathe and you know that you're losing way too much blood. You've died a lot, but you're really hoping that maybe this time will be the actual last time. You hate the sensation. 

You struggle with your arm for a while and you finally manage to gather the strength to raise it up to the kid's face. He holds it there because he probably know that you can't. 

"I'm really fucking proud of you lil man." you say to him, and your voice is kind of this nasty weak rasp but he can hear you and that's what matters. Your shades flew off sometime during the fight and you're glad that you can finally meet his eyes without them. "I know I never said it but I really fucking love you. Dave, you're the best fucking brother I could ever have asked for." 

And yeah, it's completely true. And it's pretty sad to die with his wailing echoing in your ears, but it isn't all that bad because you know that you protected him. 


End file.
